COMING hot on the heels of success at the GTI British Open Championships, Farnham School of Tae Kwon Do’s tournament squad put in a superb performance at the PUMA International Open Championships, yielding a return of seven medals.

The tournament attracts tae kwon do competitors from all four home nations, as well as representation from the Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, United States and, this year, a team from India.

There was strong competition in the patterns and sparring categories, across all age, grade and weight divisions. Progress to the podium meant navigating through several rounds against good quality opponents.

There were mixed fortunes early on, with youngsters Tyla Nawrattel, Nicole Oxley, Melissa Oxley and Monty Warner all missing out in patterns in the early rounds.

But ten-year-old Dylan Walker went through three rounds of patterns to win Farnham’s first medal of the day, a bronze. Dimitri Perricos, 17, then followed up with bronze in his patterns division. Will Oxley, silver medallist in patterns at this event last year, had to settle for bronze in men’s patterns. Patterns are a technical aspect of tae kwon do; each pattern comprising a set of attacking and defensive moves set in a logical sequence to deal with multiple opponents.

In the sparring, Monty Warner, fighting at this level for the first time, had four tough bouts, bravely fighting his way to a semi-final but missing out on the bronze medal in the play-off. Dylan Walker was also narrowly beaten in sparring but showed how much he is learning as a fighter.

Oliver Contreras, 15, and Perricos both had bruising encounters against opponents from India but progressed to make it an all-Farnham battle for gold, where the younger boy’s greater tournament experience just gave him the edge.

Will Bryan, 14, continued his development as a fighter and his good form of the past 18 months to win gold in his sparring division at his first PUMA event.

Another of the Farnham squad in fine form is the ever-reliable Will Oxley, fighting well into the evening at the end of a full day of competition to win gold in the over-36 men’s sparring for the third successive year and Farnham’s seventh medal of the day.

Coach Tim Ayres-Townshend, who was assisted by black belts Sara Maitland and Nick Nawrattel, said: “A big thank you to PUMA and all the officials, competitors and supporters who ensured that the tournament was contested in the right spirit.

“As always, friendship was the winner.”